UK folks - Birmingham city centre evacuated
 

The news is saying the controlled explosion was on a bus.



Police evacuate Birmingham centre

Police used loud speakers to evacuate Birmingham's Broad Street
Police in Birmingham are evacuating large parts of the city centre amid a security alert.

West Midlands Police said people were being asked to leave the centre, particularly Broad Street, as a "precautionary measure".

No vehicles are being allowed past the inner ring road into the city centre, and there have also been reports of controlled explosions by police.

Police said it was in response to intelligence the force had received.

"It's quite tense," said BBC journalist Toby Brown.

No vehicles are being allowed to be moved, he added.

Birmingham resident Kenneth Kelsall told the BBC: "There is a lot of confusion, there appears to be no chance of anyone moving back into the city - but people are remaining quiet."

West Midlands Police announced they had received intelligence of a possible threat to the area around 2015BST.

Initially people were told to be on their guard and that bars and restaurants were being searched. Motorists were also told not to come into the city centre.

Around 2100BST the police announced that the city was to be evacuated.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4668313.stm

Well that's the lapdancers earnings for tonight fucked then.

20k people evacuated and no one allowed past the ring road..there goes a LOT of people's earnings for the night.

Was caught up in the aftermath of the London bombings yesterday travelling back from Spain. Never seen London so quiet on a Friday night before.

have a friend visiting.. he was in london the other day and as far as I know birmingham today.. what a shitty vacation planning

no kidding..they will get a good view of our various police uniforms. Or maybe there is something about your friend that you don't know ;) j/k

Police said it doesn't look like explosives. Looks like some dickhead has left a bag behind when they got off the bus, in spite of what happened in London there are still fucktards everywhere putting the fear of God into everyone with their stupid carelessness

Speaking as a Londoner..i think anyone in London that walks away from a bag or package in a public place should be arrested right now. The same as screaming fire in a crowded theatre.

a train was stopped yesterday in norway.. people called the police after they spotted some foreigners playing with some "clear liquids and some wires" ... turned out they were drinking sprite and the "wire" was for a cellphone... people are scared shitless these days..

That shit really sucks. I feel bad for them.

where do the 20k people stay at the moment? Just watched sky news and they have not been allowed back yet..

so its finally hit my home town....

so far though, as far as I know, this as only been a scare... enough to block off the whole of the city centre though.

Bullshit. Maybe they are preoccupied with fear and with their mind on other things while on public transport they managed to leave it? You can't legislate against absentmindedness when you've just had an event thats going to cause a lot of it.

Looks like it came to nothing thankfully. Although they are stating it was 'credible threat'.

Maybe only relevant to a few of us on here but there is a very high concentration of lapdancing bars in the Broad Street area alone :)

YARGH! I was just wondering about this. :1orglaugh Thanks for the bump.

There's some wild stories going around that Glasgow will be next.

Motherfuckers better not come to my city! No one will stop me partying in Glasgow.

That's a bad idea, can't punish people for honest mistakes.

I'm still getting over the fact that I was working in london all last week, was at Liverpool St station at least 5 times, and was round Westminster for the majority of the week. It's quite depressing to see the U.K in such a state of panic, the world isn't fucked enough.. lets add some paranoia and see what happens -_-

Its sunny and warm today......... life goes on!

http://gaycocklibrary.pimpedhost.com/london/flower.jpg

for how long? that's not how things should be handled.

Anyone who has lived in London for two seconds knows the chaos leaving unattended bags cause. Try leaving an unattended bag at heathrow and see how long it takes for it to be blown up. Being a citizen of a a major city such as London where unattended bags have blown up numerous times requires vigalience and responsibility these days and there is no excuse at all for leaving a bag and walking away from it in London. There are posters everywhere telling you not to do it. I am not talking major jail sentences but atleast an ability to ticket should be looked at.

If someone absentmindedly over runs a traffic light they can be charged. An event like this should make people more aware and it usually does in London.

That's absolute idiocy. Do you honestly believe people aren't doing all they can not to forget their stuff? Do you actually think that giving tickets to people when they leave a bag with, for instance, their laptop, will make forgetting it any less desirable?

Giving out tickets won't stop terrorists - it will only punish people making an honest mistake.

seriously..what is the excuse in a city like London to leave a bag and walk away from it for long enough for others to notice?

Of course it won't stop the terrorists but it would cut down on false alarms. I suppose you would have to live in London to know how everyone knows not to leave bags.

Fuck!! I just read the first paragraph in one of the papers when I was round at the shop.

I guess they could strike anywhere they want. Scary.

If they get a 100£ ticket, they will at least not forget their bag more than 1 time.

It has nothing to do with stopping terrorists. If someone forgets a bag, the train will be stopped, evacuated and bomb squad called in. How much do you think that costs? A cost that could be spent on chasing the real threat.

Forgetting a bag 10 years ago, was not a big deal. In these days, it can be a serious threat, unfortunately.

It won't cut down on false alarms, because it won't cut down on people leaving bags. People who leave their bags who are not terrorists only leave them because they forget them, which is something they really don't want to do in the first place.

Giving out tickets for forgetting bags is like giving out tickets for tripping and smacking against the pavement with your head.

There are no people who intentionally leave their bags yet would be scared off by tickets for doing so, so doing something like this simply wouldn't make sense.

People already really don't want to forget their bags, do you honestly believe tickets will make people not want to forget their bags even more?

If you need a newspaper to tell you that terrorists want to slit your throat and they dont care where you are well....

Stick. Wrong end of. Never mind. :thumbsup

All I have to say is that it is obvious you don't live in London. People waiting for trains, etc don't even generally put their bags down at all let alone walk away from them. We have been well taught here that it is part of our social reponsibility to not leave bags/luggage unattended and then to report any bags that are left unattended.

I used to commute everyday into Charing Cross train station. If someone put their bag down they knew about it - let alone walk far enough away from it to make other people question why it is there. British people - especially commuters - are not very good at vocally questioning someone but they are very good at giving people 'the eye', tutting and givng a general sense of disaproval.

In a number of places in the States people can be fined for littering..it is the same principle. When a suspicious bag is called in it can close off city areas, train stations and generally really mess up the flow of a city an therefore cost people time , money and panic.

People in London know all too well of the devices that can be left in even a plastic shopping bag. The nail bomber a few years ago (he targetted black and gay people) left his nail bombs in shopping bags and walked away from them. People got out of the practice of reporting unattended bags..they will get back into it now and therefore leaving your bags unattended is socially irresponsible on a variety of levels.